Keeping warm

Lovelyness

Lovelyness

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The weather has finally turned chilly here ❄️🥶 I was awake during the night for a little bit, and was thinking how I could keep Blossom warm during the winter. I had a delivery from Abel and Cole this morning. They use wool packaging to insulate their cool boxes…and it’s great for insulating hamster cages too 😉 I’ve borrowed their packaging (will give it back in the Spring 👍) and have created a layer of insulation round the bottom of Miss B‘s cage. It goes all the way round the back, and is the perfect height 👍 I may also knit a cage cosy (bit like a mug cosy only bigger) as it would look very cute as well as keeping her cosy! (Still deciding about this 🤔)IMG_7172.jpeg
 
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It's absolutely freezing where we are! It came on very suddenly and we had frost! Apparently it's supposed to get a bit warmer though. The insulation panels are a great idea. I wonder if you can buy things like that. The knitted cage cosy sounds good as well. If it's 100% wool it is quite insulating. Presumably you mean to fit round the cage base, not the bars? Main thing would be to make sure she can't get at it through the bars to chew it.

Talking about 100% wool - there is such a thing as sheep's wool insultation for houses - I wonder if anywhere sells offcuts.

Last year people were putting cardboard round the cage base. But if there are going to be freezing temperatures overnight, I have a heater on a thermostat that comes on. To stop the room temperature from getting too cold.
 
Maz said:
It's absolutely freezing where we are! It came on very suddenly and we had frost! Apparently it's supposed to get a bit warmer though. The insulation panels are a great idea. I wonder if you can buy things like that. The knitted cage cosy sounds good as well. If it's 100% wool it is quite insulating. Presumably you mean to fit round the cage base, not the bars? Main thing would be to make sure she can't get at it through the bars to chew it.

Talking about 100% wool - there is such a thing as sheep's wool insultation for houses - I wonder if anywhere sells offcuts.

Last year people were putting cardboard round the cage base. But if there are going to be freezing temperatures overnight, I have a heater on a thermostat that comes on. To stop the room temperature from getting too cold.
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Yes, wool is a great insulator! I'm sure you could get it somewhere. I only knit with natural yarns these days, so if I do decide to knit anything it would be 100% wool. And yes, it's the base of the cage that is covered, not the bars 👍 I do also have a layer of cardboard underneath the cage, mainly to catch any bits of bedding etc that might pop out the cage, but it doubles as a layer of insulation.
 
I started knitting again about 10 years ago but the last 5 have been so hectic I haven't had chance to get going with anything. These days, for some reason, I don't like sitting still long enough to do it! But it's very therapeutic and rewarding knitting things :)
 
It’s freezing here too!

Hemp mats work well for insulation if you don’t have wool.
I don’t know about buying the sheep wool house insulation off cuts but the base wool used for needlefelting would work well, it’s just a slightly cleaned & combed wool almost like fleece as it comes from the sheep & that comes in great big pieces some of it pongs a bit though, lanolin, but that probably makes it warmer.
 
Hemp mats is a good idea. I hadn't thought of that for the cage base. I put it on a house roof in the cage. And on shelves sometimes as well, but that was more for fall risks originally.
 
Some people raise the cage on books and put one underneath. I used to attach a towel holder to the bars and sit it in that, so it was not quite touching the cage but very close.

Looks like you can buy wool wadding as well

chimneysheep.co.uk

Chimney Sheep

chimneysheep.co.uk chimneysheep.co.uk
 
Maz said:
I am now imagining a knitted cage base cover! It sounds really beautiful and unique!
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I'm a textile artist, so knit for a couple of hours every day. I haven't created much art in the last few months since we said goodbye to our beautiful little dog, but I've still been knitting every day. Grief is gradually subsiding and I'm hoping to get back to creating art soon. I have designed cowls and scarves, so this would be similar.
 
RainbowBrite said:
I am so sorry for your loss.

If you ever wanted to create a thread to show anything you have made I would love to see. I love looking at crafts.
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Thank you 🙏 He was a wonderful little chap, and he is very much missed. His favourite thing was to sit beside me and snuggle up while I was knitting. I’m really missing him snuggling up next to me on the sofa as it’s getting chilly and we are staying in more. I’ll post a few pics of my knitted art 👍
IMG_0899.jpeg
 
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